Facebook Caps Off Music Licensing Deals With Warner Music Group “Holistic Partnership”

With its recent licensing deal with Warner Music Group, Facebook now allows its users to use, upload, and share music from all three major music labels controlling the majority of popular music today.

Facebook began its music licensing deals with Universal Music Group, continued with Sony/ATV Publishing, and has now completed its collection with a deal that brings Warner Music Group to the table as well. The partnership, described as “holistic,” now allows users on Facebook and Facebook-owned properties like Instagram and Oculus to use and share music from WMG’s extensive catalog, freely.

Warner Music Group announced the deal, saying that it allows users to now “add music to [their] memories and moments.” Commenting on its significance, Warner’s executive vice president of global strategy Eric Mackay explained that “the team at Facebook is creating a truly innovative product and is showing real commitment to its participation in the growth of the music business,” and that the deal had been a long time coming.

Mackay also said that his company took its time to “arrive at the best possible deal, one that recognizes the value that music creates on social networks, while empowering [its] songwriters to reach audiences around the world, in a way that will spark creativity and conversation among their fans.”

The partnership – and the others that Facebook has been pursuing lately – presents a true opportunity for the company to bring music to users in many different ways (a music service on Facebook can’t be far off), but it also provides new ways for rights to be managed on social media. Only time will tell how beneficial this will be for artists themselves.

As Ole Obermann, Warner Music Group’s Chief Digital Officer explains, the “partnership with Facebook will help expand the universe of music streaming and create supplementary revenue for artists. Fan-created video is one of the most personal, social and often viral ways that music is enjoyed, but its commercial potential is largely untapped. This collaboration will lead to new possibilities for our artists, while enhancing the user experience across Facebook, Instagram and Oculus, and enabling people to communicate and express themselves using the music they love.”